Abstract

Old age or elderly is a last period in a phase of human development. With the increasing life expectancy, estimated between the years 1970-2025 the world's elderly population increased 694 million or 233%, to 1.2 billion. The growth of the elderly in Indonesia, the world's fastest. In the year 2025 is estimated to be 35 million people. Based on BPS data, from 203.456 million population of Indonesia, there were 17.767 million or 7.79% elderly (in Sinar Harapan, 2003). In the elderly, like other development phases, humans are required to adapt to changes that occur, whether physical, psychological and social. Those changes include the decrease or withdrawal of the ability or function of an individual physical, mental and social. This setback caused by factors other than physical may also be caused by psychological factors which the attitude is not happy with yourself, others, work, and life in general can lead to senility, because there is a change in the lining of the brain. As a result people will decline physically and mentally and will probably die soon (Hurlock, 1980: p. 380). Therefore, the reduction or decline in function of these individuals has the potential to cause health problems both physically and mentally in the elderly. With so many problems that arise in these elderly people are often led to negative views toward the figure of the elderly. The elderly are often considered to have no useful so they become less attention and even tended to be ignored. Sementara itu other hand, people still can not deny that the real presence of the elderly is still needed, because the runners have the wisdom (wisdom) which is needed in giving the views or advice for people or the younger generation. Based on the experience and wisdom it possesses, the elderly can understand about what they should do to overcome or solve problems in life are uncertain. Kail & Cavanaugh (2000: p. 512) says that the wise people who know most about how to live, how to interpret the events in life, and what is the meaning of life .. So far, research on the wisdom of the elderly has become one of the most important topics in psychology. Several studies have been conducted both abroad and in Indonesia, among others, research by Dr. Paul Baltes, of the Max Planck Institude for Human Development in Berlin. His research assessing the level of someone in your wisdom with analytical discussion of specific crises or dilemmas. Dr. Baltes finds that with increasing age of a person, he will become more adept and confident at picking the right action to cope with suicide cases where the age of 60 years to 80 years on average significantly better than those in their 20s, particularly in a matter of life and death (in Carey, 2005). In Indonesia alone, the study was conducted among others by Agustina S Basri (in Yacub, 2002), and managed to find the fact that the elderly appear more steady and clear in looking at the characteristics of wisdom. In addition, this study also conducted in several tribes in Indonesia, among others, a study conducted by Dra. Titi Mumfangati examining local knowledge in communities Samin Blora regency, Central Java (2004), John Ryan Bartholomew (2001) who studied the indigenous Sasak people, and Syahrasaddin (2000) who studied the indigenous communities in the Region of Interaction Region TNKS Kerinci in Jambi province . Pappalia (2002: p. 243) mentions that not everyone can become wise. Though wisdom may be developed in every period of life, the elderly would provide a fertile place for growth. As Confucius said (in Supiyo, 2006) to be wise is a process, that is, when people aged 20 years, he learned to be wise. At age 30, he grew thoughtful. The age of 40 years, he was wise. Rise to the age of 50 years, from the feeling he tries to be wise. Entering the age of 60 years, he began to be wise. And at the age of 70, she
was only prudent. So, to achieve a wisdom is required of a long and continuous process. "So, it really takes so long to be so wise." Elderly are more likely to have wisdom because the runners have experienced various problems or experiences in life that can teach the best way to overcome these problems. Kenyon, et al (2006) illustrates that old age has its own strengths "self-creating" that they seem to become more independent in their decisions, and less principal in the external influences such as fashion and trends are widespread among young people. They also suggested that old age can live better with the contradictions in life and they can quickly see the essence of a situation because they are very experienced. Because humans are always learning from the environment which of course is loaded with specific cultural values will not be denied that the culture of a region also affects the values of one's wisdom. According to Sternberg & Lubart, wisdom has been associated with the elderly in almost the entire world community in both the cultural traditions of Western and Eastern cultures (Hoyer, 2003: p. 361). With the wisdom it possesses, it is believed that the elderly are generally viewed negatively will be more appreciated and respected. Elderly will be seen as someone who is most understanding of cultural values in the area, so that their opinions will always be used in life. It also happens in Indonesia. While in Indonesia there are many cultures and ethnicities but in general, according Untaryo (2006, p. 3), the elderly in the way of life of Indonesian families still occupy an honorable place. In family problems, the parents still always be consulted and their opinions, especially on special occasions such as marriage customs, religious ceremonies etc., and sometimes also in terms of looking for complex solutions when there is family conflict. Similarly, this also occurs in traditional societies Samawa (Sumbawa). As one of the tribes in Indonesia, the uniqueness of Samawa family is a large family with several families living together (Raba, 2002: p. 70), and the elderly in the family it would be a "family advisor". In addition, the tribe of Sumbawa (Samawa) a very prominent society is dependency and obedience to religious leaders or traditional leaders as role models in everyday life (Government of NTB, 2005). Surely to become a religious leaders or traditional leaders is necessary that wise people in running their lives so that should be a role model by the surrounding community. However, with the modernization, large families begin to disappear, new couples now tend to live apart from their parents, and even cultural values Sumbawa slowly began to fade. The younger generation knows very little of their cultural identity. All of that because public attitudes Sumbawa which is always open and receptive to the values of foreign cultures or cultures from other regions in Indonesia, it does carry a positive impact for the development of technology or even the increased level of health and welfare of the population, will but the younger generation less attention to and preserve old cultures so that little by little Sumbawa culture began to fade. Arif (2006) says that ethnic dinamistik Sumbawa is quite encouraging, but the attitude of this dynamic even forget to deliver ethnic Sumbawa own cultural roots. Tau Samawa too proud with the new culture that is not necessarily appropriate to the circumstances of Sumbawa. In addition, Arif (2003) also said that Sumbawa is a minor point in the group of the archipelago with a rich cultural diversity and innovative, but the human factor tends to undermine the culture. This resulted in Sumbawa culture will gradually dwindling and will disappear by itself. So it happened with the role of the elderly. Although so far the elderly in Sumbawa is still respected, but their involvement in all aspects of social life began to fade. According Zulkarnain in an interview on 14
November 2006, in general the elderly in Sumbawa is not allowed anymore by children and grandchildren to perform productive activities. Thus, the elderly prefer to be active in pemakmur mosque as a devout Muslim and also active in discussions about religion, culture and social community with fellow lansianya. And true, with the wisdom of its elderly may be a filter for the entry of foreign cultures and become a unifying between foreign culture with a long cultural values so that the old cultural values are not lost at all, as the saying Untaryo (2006, p. 3), the elderly are still regarded as a role model who has the experience and wisdom, so that seniors can use the opportunity to integrate the elements of the old cultural values with modern life in order to accompany the younger generation. Zulkarnain (2006) also points out that in this problem depends on how the next generation of elderly people explore, assess, utilize and tembang of wisdom is to increase the dignity of human life and the environment. Of course this is also influenced by how society views the elderly wisdom itself. Based on what has been described above, researchers interested in knowing whether the weakening of cultural values on Sumbawa and the changing role of the elderly, the public views on the wisdom elderly will also be changed or not. For that researchers will try to obtain this information through research that will apply to groups of adolescents, adults and lansianya itself as important in the order of three generations of social life. This research is important because it can be a preliminary study to other studies and can contribute ideas for the public and other researchers in understanding and wisdom of its elderly.